Apple MacBook Pro 15.4" Mid 2018 w/ Touch Bar Overview

Experience the innovative interface of the Touch Bar in the mid 2018 silver Apple 15.4" MacBook Pro with Touch Bar.

The 15.4" Retina Display has a 2880 x 1800 resolution. It also supports the P3 color gamut, which allows for more vibrant colors. This ensures true-to-life pictures with realistically vivid details, which are essential for graphic design, color grading, and editing. With True Tone technology, the white balance automatically adjusts to match the color temperature of the light around you for a more natural viewing experience.

The Touch Bar places controls right at your fingertips and adapts to different apps to provide useful functions without having to navigate complex menus or memorize keyboard shortcuts. Replacing the function keys in the top row of the keyboard, the Touch Bar features a Retina-quality display and supports multi-touch input.

The power button has been upgraded with a Touch ID sensor, so you can quickly log into your MacBook Pro using your fingerprint. You can also use Touch ID to make purchases over the web, thanks to Apple Pay. Touch ID enables a quick, accurate reading of your fingerprint and uses sophisticated algorithms to recognize and match it with the Secure Enclave in the Apple T2 chip. It also brings "Hey Siri" function to the Mac.

The system features an 8th Gen Coffee Lake 2.9 GHz Intel Core i9 six-core processor, 16GB of 2400 MHz DDR4 onboard memory, a 2TB PCIe-based SSD, four Thunderbolt 3 (USB Type-C) ports, a Force Touch trackpad, a keyboard with a 3rd-gen butterfly mechanism, stereo speakers with double the dynamic range of its predecessor as well as improved bass, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0 wireless technology, and even a 3.5mm headphone jack.

With True Tone technology, the display and Touch Bar deliver a more natural viewing experience for design and editing workflows, as well as everyday tasks like browsing the web and writing email.

Apple T2 Chip

With the Apple T2 chip, the MacBook Pro delivers enhanced system security with support for secure boot and on-the-fly encrypted storage, and also brings "Hey Siri" to the Mac.

Touch Bar

The Touch Bar replaces the function keys that have long occupied the top of your keyboard with something much more versatile and capable. The multi-touch, Retina-quality display changes automatically based on what you're doing, from showing traditional system controls, such as volume and brightness, to more directly interacting with or browsing through content. Intelligent typing features like emoji and predictive text improve the typing experience, and you'll be able to customize the Touch Bar to fit your needs. The Touch Bar can also adapt to apps, such as Mail, Safari, Messages, and even third-party apps like Adobe Photoshop, so you'll have access to useful functions previously hidden in menus.

Touch ID

A Touch ID sensor has been integrated into the power button, so you can quickly log into your account, even when another user is logged in. You can also use it with Apple Pay to securely purchase things over the web.

Retina Display

The 15.4" Retina Display has a 2880 x 1800 resolution and features brighter LED backlighting than its predecessor as well as an increased contrast ratio, delivering deeper blacks and brighter whites. Its larger pixel aperture and variable refresh rate make it more power efficient than previous generations. It also supports the P3 color gamut, which allows for more vibrant colors. This ensures true-to-life pictures with realistically vivid details, which are essential for graphic design, color grading, and editing.

Force Touch Trackpad

The Force Touch trackpad on the 15.4" MacBook Pro takes all the capabilities of multi-touch and adds force sensors that detect subtle differences in the amount of downward pressure you apply. This lets you have a deeper connection to your content, bringing more functionality right to your fingertip. It also introduces haptic feedback to MacBook Pro, allowing you not just to see what's happening on the screen, but to feel it. With multi-touch, you can use realistic gestures like swiping or pinching to switch between apps, navigate your content, and get the most out of your desktop space.

Thinner & Lighter

The 15.4" MacBook Pro features a redesigned enclosure design and all-metal unibody construction that creates a rigid and dense notebook that is also thin and light. At just 15.5 mm thin, the 15.4" MacBook Pro weighs just four pounds.

Audio

The speakers have been totally redesigned to provide as much as twice the dynamic range and up to 58 percent more volume, with two-and-a-half-times louder bass for maximum boom. Plus, they're connected directly to system power, enabling up to three times more peak power.

Thunderbolt 3

Thunderbolt 3 is a hardware interface that utilizes the reversible USB Type-C connector. Doubling the speed of its predecessor, Thunderbolt 3 features a maximum throughput of 40 Gb/s when used with compatible devices. The connector also transmits data via USB 3.1 at up to 10 Gb/s, and dual-bandwidth DisplayPort 1.2 allows you to connect up to two 4K displays simultaneously or one multi-panel 5K display. The Macbook Pro has four ports, with each pair using a dedicated bus.

Apple MacBook Pro 15.4" Mid 2018 w/ Touch Bar Reviews

Rated 3 out of
5 by
Timothy from
Functional improvements they are not....I do not like the new "butterfly" keys -- I appreciate a more substantial resistance to my keystrokes. I find the touch pad overly sensitive -- sometimes i swear it's registering the heat or the EMF radiating from my fingertips, rather than the actual pressure of my fingertip, such that, for example, I am frequently inadvertently right-clicking while hovering over the touchpad. Don't even me started on the USB-C ports only. Why I should have to fork out another $50 to hook up my $1000 Apple Thunderbolt display to a new MacBook Pro is infuriating, to say nothing of having to carry around a handful of converters so Jon Ivey can pride himself on minimalism is beyond me. I like the screen a lot and I suppose the Touch Bar will prove it's worth in time.

Date published: 2018-09-14

Rated 5 out of
5 by
Ryan from
Upgrade from Mid-2012The new 2018 MBP is amazingly fast, sleek and ultra light. I bought a usb-c hub that has ports to connect my usb external hard drive, usb printer and an HDMI port for an external monitor so no problems connecting old devices to this new MBP. The touchbar is great as it adapts to whatever program I am running. The keyboard is a massive improvement from the Mid-2012 version i previously had. The touch pad is unnecessarily huge and jumps a bit so i had to play around with the track settings before getting it right. No real problems there either. Very pleased with it overall.

Date published: 2018-09-26

Rated 3 out of
5 by
Jonathan from
keyboard issues, battery issuesI got a great macbook pro, specd higher than I thought Icould afford because of greatbh photodeals. The battery runsout after lessthan 3 hoursoflight use. Andim leavving alllthetypos in to illustrate the issues with the keyboard. Thespace keyrarelyworksthe first time.At first i thought. i mustbetouching thetrackpad but I am. now being very careful. The space bar requires an extremely heavy touch to work. Often requiring one to slow down, backup and rehit the space bar. After I finish writing this review Im going to see if I am still within the return window.

Date published: 2019-04-03

Rated 1 out of
5 by
Pj from
Very Poor Design!First of all they changed from having a magnetized power connection to a small, hard to plugin connection. Magnetized was much easier to plug in and out, and if youre a klutz like me and trip over your power cord it would unplug without taking the computer with it! Also theirs 10 of area along the side of the keyboard for plug in ports, including power. Apple has chosen to put the ports within a fraction of a centimeter next to each out. You need tweezers to surgically remove items to plugged in or out. Really? You couldnt design a port connection just slightly further apart? And finally, Im not doing back flips over the speed. For the price I think you can find better!

Date published: 2018-11-17

Rated 4 out of
5 by
Dr Anna from
15 inch, i7 2.6GB, 16 GB Ram, 560X graphics, 512 GB Storage.I previously used a 2014 MacBook Pro (i7 2.2 GHz, 16 GB RAM, 256 GB Storage) and compared to that, I noticed the following:
1. Keyboard is noiser and though the travel is less it is not bad.
2. The performance for everyday use appear almost similar but I movie use feels faster.
3. Miss the MagSafe charging option with LED indicators.
4. Nice to be able to charge from any USB C ports from either sides.
5. Screen quality is the same with same brightness levels.
6. Tru Tone option is nice.
7. Touch Pad is useful at times like with Google Maps though for usual adjustments the previous option is preferable.
8. Screen unlock with Touch ID failed once and hope this is not a recurrent issue.

Date published: 2018-08-08

Rated 5 out of
5 by
bruce from
So far So goodI brought this computer as a UI designer. I also have a 2015 Macbookpro in use so I can clearly find the difference between them.
Pros:
- Thinner than 2015' Macbookpro, looks better.
- The keyboard is better than 2017/16 but still can't compare to 15'
- Better CPU, GPU...and everything you may not find the difference.
Cons:
- Once you get this MacBook Pro, you will need to buy a bunch of accessories like USB-C adaptors, mouse... and you can really throw your old mouses away.
-Tracking Pad is larger but not easy to use compared to my old one. I am not going to use a large tracking pad to cook eggs.
- I am still getting used to the "Truetone" screen, which is a good technology for some users but not for me. I still prefer my old MacBook's screen.

Date published: 2018-08-31

Rated 3 out of
5 by
William from
NOT ENOUGH IOI am a pro filmmaker and this machine has good speed, which is important, but it only has 4 thunderbolt usb3 C ports, which is totally inadequate. You have to buy 3rd party adaptors and they are all , after plug in, slower than the usb c ports. If you are a beginner and dont have many drives, this machine will be (very expensive but) fine for you, but for a professional, not good. I have been using mac products in the past but they are failing to satisfy the consumer these days - for example, money aside, there are no apple or third party adaptors that maintain the thunberbolt c speed - that is what the pros tell me - give me a break - sorry but that is the way I see it.

Date published: 2019-04-17

Rated 3 out of
5 by
Victor from
may be the weakest model Ive ever had in 23 years of appleBeing a mac user for 23 years, and assiduous customer with regard to switching computers every 4 years. maybe this laptop was the one that surprised me the least. I confess that I expected more and better. The keyboard is super vulnerable, the trackpad is larger but less accurate. And I honestly think there should be a 15-inch model with no touch bar as it exists with 13 inches. The model I had before was a 15-inch, A1398 i7 2.7Ghz and 16Gb ram 512Gb SSD, and 4 years later, regarding performance, I do feel little difference compared to this model.This time there is no kudos to apple.